


Treasure Trove

by Keolah



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Gen, Science Fiction, Space Pirates, Spaceships, Weapons, Withiki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1992-01-01
Updated: 1992-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-14 20:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/519096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Keolah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Space pirates capture a platinum mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treasure Trove

"Let me get this straight," said Melburne to Williams as they walked down the hallway to the bridge, "the Federation wants the _Advance_ to find out why the platinum mines on Sirius IV suddenly stopped transmitting to Earth." 

Williams answered, "Admiral Jane Washington told me she was in the middle of a conversation with her son Daniel when the transmissions were cut off. She said we have authorization to arrest whoever is responsible for this. She sounded rather flustered, somewhat like a scared hen. If she wasn't an admiral, I might say she was a bit over-protective of her son." 

Captain Katie Melburne nodded in agreement as they entered the elevator. 

"Bridge," said Melburne. The elevator started rising upward so smoothly that you might almost think it was still. 

"We should be arriving at Sirius any minute now," informed Commander Williams. 

Melburne expected to come into the calm of the bridge working with the usual high efficiency. What she found there was chaos. 

Several flying PADDs narrowly missed Katie's head as she walked onto the bridge. In all the commotion, it was hard, if not impossible, to tell exactly what was going on. From what she could gather in the short time it continued, Katie saw that one of the communications officers, specifically a Withiki named Ensign Render Kelp, was causing trouble. Apparently, he had jammed the intercom channels so that no one on the bridge could contact security, or anyone else, for that matter. Strangely, he had left the communication channels to outside the ship open. A glance at the main screen showed a tiny craft coming from the surface of Sirius IV, and heading for the port vehicle bay. Katie knew that he would be cutting off the elevators sooner or later, so she had to get him unconscious fast. She instinctively grabbed her hand-held phaser, set it to stun, and fired at Kelp. The Withiki fell to the floor with a soft thud. 

"Williams, get communications," cried Melburne, "Send security to the vehicle bays as soon as possible. Get some security up here, also. Would somebody mind telling me exactly what happened here?" 

"Captain," said Julie Davis, "I will tell you." She cleared her throat, "We were about to begin a scan of the surface of Sirius IV to determine what was happening down there when Kelp received a message from Sirius's second moon Sirius Pralley. Keene asked him what it was about, and Kelp stunned him. Then, he proceeded to cut off the intercom. Keene is still unconscious, but unharmed. 

"Then, several people started throwing PADDs, but mostly the aim was pretty lousy. None of them found their mark. Then you and Williams came in." 

"I see." pondered Melburne. 

Just then, security walked in. Melburne recognized them as Ensign Keller and Lieutenant Oliver. Oliver walked up to Melburne and nearly said something as stupid as "What seems to be the problem," but saw immediately when Kelp let out a loud groan and Oliver saw the PADDs everywhere. "What happened here?" he asked. 

Melburne just sighed and said, "Take him to the brig and see what kind of vehicle just docked." 

"Aye, Captain," said Oliver as he and Keller took Render Kelp to the nearest elevator. 

After they left, Melburne asked, "What was this you said about Sirius Pralley, Davis?" 

"Apparently, Kelp received a message from somewhere in the northern hemisphere on Pralley. That was about all I saw before he cleared the screen. It appeared to be between forty and fifty degrees north latitude. I could not tell the longitude." 

"Ensign Redwood," Melburne said to the helmsman, "take us into orbit of Sirius Pralley. Meyers, begin a scan of those areas as soon as we are near enough. Thezzer," Melburne said to the chief geologist, "Begin a geological scan of the moon." 

The men instantly began to work with their equipment and the ship began to move with stunning agility. 

In half a minute, Mitchell came in. He was about to ask what was going on when Melburne said, "I'll tell you later." Mitchell said nothing and took communications. 

Two minutes later, Chuck Meyers suddenly half-jumped in his chair and stared intensely at his screen. 

"What is it, Meyers?" asked Katie. 

"The computer has just detected a large mass of unnatural alloys at forty-six degrees north latitude and twelve degrees east longitude. Currently going into a more detailed scan. It appears to be a base of some kind. The type of alloys would indicate that the origin of the base is probably either Rigel VI or Earth. Internal scans tell that there are forty-three humans, eighteen Withiki, and nine Sirian natives in the complex. Docked at the base is a smallish ship that could be offensive. On board the ship is ten humans, nineteen Withiki, four Sirians, and eight Orions. The ship's markings would indicate that its name is Black Fang." 

"Orions?" Melburne said, "I thought the treaties stated that-" 

"The markings also tell that these people are pirates," said Meyers. 

"Pirates?" Melburne asked, "Who is the captain?" 

A voice from behind her said, "Scarface Harding." 

It was Davis. 

"Davis, explain," said Katie. 

"I have an older brother named Randolf Davis. The last time I spoke to him, he said that he was running away to join Scarface Harding on the Black Fang. That was two years ago. He had always been a defiant person, and he had mentioned that Harding and him were two of a kind. Even though I doubt it, I do not doubt that Randy is still on that ship." 

"Speculate," said Melburne to no one in particular, "Why would a pirate ship want to take over a planet that has very few defenses, low strategic value, and one of the largest platinum mines in the sector? I don't think I need to ask. The question answers itself. If this planet fell into the hands of pirates..." 

"I don't want to find out," sighed Davis. 

"Meyers, bring up a map of the area on the main screen," said Melburne. 

Meyers nodded and punched a few buttons before the screen lit up with a star map. The Sirius system was in the center of the screen, a bright red dot to indicate where the _Advance_ was. Near them, too near, a thin green band streaked across the map. That meant the edge of Federation territory. Beyond it, an unexplored star system was covered by a veil of gray, like fog. It was the only unexplored star system near here. 

"Meyers, what star is that?" asked Melburne, gesturing to the grayed star. 

Meyers looked at his screen and said, "That's Tiandarya. It has never been explored before. It supposedly has eight planets, but that's all that is known about it." 

"Captain," called Mitchell, "We are receiving a message from the base on Pralley. Text only. It's very cryptic." 

Melburne walked up to the communications station and read the message. It said, "Scarface. Attack. Do not interfere. Mount St. Helens. Leave at once." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Melburne. 

"I'm afraid I have no idea." said Mitchell. 

The geologist, Thezzer, said, "I'm finished with the geological scan of the planet. Fascinating." 

"What did you find, Lieutenant?" asked Melburne. 

"Pralley has a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, and the surface is ninety percent water. Fresh water, at that. This base seems to completely cover an island with a dead volcano on it. Geologically, the island is very stable. It is part of a chain of islands that are over a hot spot of magma beneath the crust, very similar to Hawaii on Earth. The are two active volcanoes in the archipelago, at twenty thousand feet and twelve thousand feet. Amazing. Both of them are growing and they are two of the tallest mountains on Pralley." 

"Interesting," said Melburne, "Williams, you have the bridge." 

"Where are you going, Captain?" asked Williams. 

Melburne answered as she went to the elevator, "I'm going to speak to a certain Commander Red." She slipped into the lift and said, "Deck Twelve, Section Alpha."

Lieutenant Commander James Red did not expect to see the captain come in while he was having a coffee break. He nearly spilled his coffee. 

"Commander Red, I need information." 

Commander Red was the head of the weapons department, and he knew a lot about weapons of all kinds: from photon torpedoes to phasers, hand-held and ship's weapons, legal and illegal, of all shapes and sizes. 

"What do you need to know, Captain Melburne?" 

"What do you know about Mount St. Helens?" asked Katie. 

"Well, Captain, don't you think Lieutenant Thezzer would know more about the subject?" 

"I don't mean the mountain," stated Melburne. 

Jim Red sighed and pressed some buttons, bringing up a diagram of a very sinister-looking weapon. 

"The Mount St. Helens," said Red. 

"Tell me about this," said Melburne. 

Red said, "The Mount St. Helens is a weapon with a range of fifty feet. It was made illegal four years ago because of it was considered a safety hazard. This was partly because its lasers are more useful for cutting than stunning, and partly because it has a Triarla style power source." 

"Triarla?" asked Melburne, "They made that illegal three years ago, didn't they?" 

"That is correct, Captain," said Red, "It is not a very reliable power source, but it is very efficient. Unfortunately, it has a high potential to backfire. Very little power is lost, but some of the power gets, um, 'left behind.' Not all of the power that gets to the central power unit leaves there. If it is used enough, it will explode." 

"Fascinating," said Melburne, "but until it explodes, then what?" 

"It will work 'normally' until then," said Red. 

"Just what I needed to know," said Melburne as she left. 

"Anything to help," said Red to himself, "I guess."

Melburne sat at the head of a very long table. On the right side sat Commander Theodore Williams, Dr. John Ryder, and Commander Timothy Redmond. On the left sat Lieutenant Mark Peterson, Alexander Green, and Lieutenant Julie Anne Davis. Keene was on the bridge. Tim Redmond looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else. He probably did. 

Melburne had briefly filled them in on what was going on. Or at least what she knew already. 

"Why would this pirate want platinum, anyway?" Green asked, "Besides that it is very valuable, I don't know much about it." 

"Redmond, would you tell us about platinum," said Melburne. 

Redmond sighed and walked over to a screen beside the table. The others turned toward him. He punched a sequence of buttons on the panel beside it. A picture of a grayish-white metal appeared on the screen. 

"Platinum has a hardness of four point three," explained Redmond, "It has a high fusing point, is malleable and ductile, expands slightly upon heating, and has high electrical resistance. Chemically, it is a noble metal, that is, it is inert and resists attack by water, air, single acids, and ordinary reagents. It dissolves slowly in aqua regia, forming chloroplatinic acid. It is attacked by halogens, and combines upon ignition with sodium hydroxide, sodium nitrate, or sodium cyanide. It melts at 1774º Celsius, that's 3225º Fahrenheit, and boils at 3827º Celsius, that's 6920º Fahrenheit." 

"Amazing," said Green, "Sounds kind of like the time my son Reggie made pancakes. Indestructible. To this day, I don't know what he put in them." 

"That's beside the point, Alex." Melburne said. 

Suddenly, the lights in the room turned red and a siren began to sound. The intercom blared "Red alert, all decks!" Keene's voice filtered through the commotion, "Captain to the bridge!" Melburne immediately went to the door and asked what was going on, but the answer came as soon as she looked at the main screen. The Black Fang had taken off and was coming toward them! 

Davis had taken her station and cried, "They're raising their shields and loading torpedoes!" 

"Shields up," said Melburne as she sat down. 

"Raising shields," said Davis. 

The black dagger on the screen moved slowly out of the atmosphere of the moon and into orbit next to the _Advance_. Strangely, even though it had its torpedoes loaded, it made no further hostile actions. 

"What are they up to?" Melburne said to no one in particular. 

"Good question," said Green, who couldn't resist saying something. 

"Maybe they just want that ship back," suggested Keene. He was still a little shaken up after being stunned. 

"Speaking of that ship," said Melburne, "What was it and why was it here?" 

Davis typed something into her computer then said, "It is a Dannok-class scout ship from Rigel VI, ID number H-1792-12. Standard crew complement is three people." 

"Not much of a ship, is it," said Green. 

"And want about the Black Fang?" asked Melburne, "I have never seen anything like it before." 

"Nor have I," said Davis. She typed into the computer and said, "The computer can't identify it, but its markings tell that it's a Fang-class warship from Tiandarya V. As to the probable standard crew compliment, I can only guess that it's forty-one." 

"Tiandarya," said Melburne, "I suspected as much." 

Green leaned against the silver rail that separated the first level from the second. There was long pause, then Green said, "Well, isn't somebody going to do something?" 

The black ship on the screen did not deviate from its orbit, and neither did the _Advance_. It seemed as though both were waiting for the other to make the next move. 

"Maybe," Melburne said as she stood up, "Maybe not." 

"What are you waiting for, Katie?" cried Green. 

"Be patient, Alex. Good things come to those who wait." Melburne stated. 

"I'm not patient," Green replied, "It isn't in my nature." 

Melburne rolled her eyes and said, "Redwood, assume a higher orbit, make it look as if we're going to leave." 

"Aye, Captain," said Redwood as he made the appropriate adjustments in his computer. The ship on the screen got smaller as they moved away from it. 

At least it had an effect. 

"Captain, Black Fang is hailing us," said Mitchell. 

Melburne said, "On screen," as she turned forward. 

The image of a man who had a long scar across his face and the need of a good shave appeared on the screen. He fit the perfect stereotype of the pirate that he was. The man smiled a toothy grin before speaking. 

"I am Scarface Harding, the captain of Black Fang. I would like to ask you what you are doing in my space." 

"Your space?" cried Melburne, "This is Federation territory and you know it." 

"Not any more," said Harding. "I have captured the only habitable planet and its moon in this system. Therefore, it now belongs to me. I hope you will follow my advise and leave at once." 

"If I left here, what would you do then?" replied Melburne, "What about the people at the mines of Sirius IV? What would happen to them? Would you kill them? What?" 

"Kill them, you say?" smiled Harding, "I would never think to do a thing like that. I would let them do their thing. They will mine the planet for me." 

"Not if I have anything to do with it," said Melburne calmly. 

"I am certainly glad that you shall soon have nothing whatsoever to do with it." Harding turned to an Withiki and spoke to him in a language that Melburne didn't know. It was probably Tiandaryan, but not even the computer could comprehend the meaning. 

"The Federation has authorized me to arrest you," said Melburne, as if that would shake him. "I suggest that you surrender immediately." 

"You are a fool to think I would ever surrender!" cried Scarface, "I would die first!" 

"Arm all weapons!" Melburne cried to Davis. 

"Arming lasers," said Davis, "Loading torpedoes." 

Melburne said to Harding, "You are equally a fool to think that I would leave this system without even an attempt to get it back, that is, if it was ever yours!" 

"Sirius is mine and none will take it away from me!" said Harding. 

"Torpedoes and phasers armed," said Davis, trying to hold back her immense fear. 

"Sirius was never yours and never will be," stated Melburne, "Don't mess with me, Scarface. I can see right through you. You want the planet Sirius IV not only because of the value of platinum, but the fact that you can't make Triarla power sources with it. You threatened us with Mount St. Helens. That is one of the reasons I am arresting you. Those weapons are illegal in Federation space and this is Federation space! Give it up, Scarface. Your plan is ruined." 

Harding stared at her for a long moment. Apparently, he didn't see a crewman behind him move toward him. That human took out a hand phaser and shot Harding pointblank. It was not set to stun. Harding was vaporized instantly. 

Melburne jumped up. The people on the screen began to applaud. Melburne said, "You didn't have to kill him." 

The man came into the light of the screen. For some reason, he seemed faintly familiar. 

"Randy!" cried Davis, smiling at the sight of her brother. 

"Julie, I never thought I would see you again," said Randy. 

"Could you explain exactly what is going on?" said Melburne, "What were Harding's plans?" 

"Not very good," said Randy, "and not very well planned. Julie, I saw you on the screen, and I knew at once that I could not let him harm you. You see, Scarface has created a larger version of Mount St. Helens, one that can be used for ships. He planned to distribute the weapon through an entire fleet of Tiandarya based ships. Unfortunately, he did not see any problem with the Triarla power sources. He ignored any warning about their danger. He is too stubborn even to be a decent captain. 

"Scarface intended to use Sirius as his main source of platinum, and to have the subtance taken to Pralley, where he was going to make Triarla power sources. But no one on this ship or at the Dallavon Island base on Pralley liked his plans or even approved of him. 

"Scarface Harding was a fool, a coward, and an idiot." The voices of the people on Black Fang began to rise in agreement. "I was Harding's second-in-command. Therefore, I am now the captain of this vessel, whether I like it or not. 

"One thing I'll make sure of: Harding's plans will not succeed. Dallavon Island will not become the producer of those infamous Mount St. Helens weapons. Sirius will never be a slave-centered planet that distributes platinum to a cause that is terribly wrong." The Black Fang crew began to cheer and applaud for their new captain. He had just killed Harding but he was already well-liked by the crew. It was good news. The best news Black Fang had seen, at that.

"I never thought I would ever see a pirate-centered organization turn into a humanitarian organization," said Melburne. 

"Well, maybe now the Tiandaryans will get a little respect." It was Green, of course. 

"They have barely developed space travel and they are already on good terms with the nearby star systems," Melburne said. 

"I never thought I'd see the day that you would devolope a liking for friendly pirates," said Green. 

"Well, Alex, I guess there's a first time for everything." 

"'First time for everything', you say? I think I'll make dinner tonight. How about stewed brussels sprouts with chocolate sauce, Katie?" 

"I think I'll pass on that one, Alex," Katie said. "If I ate that, the first time for it would turn into the last time!"


End file.
